Railway switch



Patented July 18, 1922.

Inventor.- JOHN T M00 95,

finesses:

JOHN T. Moonn, or ATLANTA, enonera.

RAILWAY swr'rerz.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN T. Moonn, a citizenof the United States, and resident of Atlanta, in the county of Fultonand State of Georgia, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Railway Switches, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to railway switches and more particularly torailway tongue switches, and has for its object the prevention of theloss of energy due to arcing between the switch tongue and the switchbody.

Another object of the invention is to pro vide a switch of the classdescribed, provided with an electrical bond of high conductivityintimately attached to the switch tongue and the switch body.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a switch of theclass described having the novel combination of parts described in thefollowing specification and claims, and illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of a switchstructure embodying my invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional elevation on the line II-II of Figure 1.

Figure 8 is a sectional plan on the line III-III of Figure 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the numeral 2 designatesthe switch body as a whole which has the usual tread and guard surfaces,and is provided with a tongue bed 3 having a circular recess 4. adjacentits rear end. A switch tongue 5 is mounted in the bed 3 and is providedwith an enlarged circular heel 6 adapted to fit snugly within the recess4. A lug 7 projects from the bottom of the heel 6 and is adapted to passthrough a suitable aperture in the bottom wall of the recess 4 and intoa suitable recess 8 below the tongue bed.

A suitable lever 9 is mounted in the recess 8 and is fulcrumed on aprojection 10. The lever 9 has one end forked as at 11 to fit around theprojection or lug 7 on the switch tongue 5, and has its other endprovided with a boss 12 which is threaded to receive a screw 13 having ajam nut 14; thereon.

The recess 8 has a portion thereof opening through the upper face of theswitch body at 15, and a suitable cap 16 is provided for closing thisopening. The cap 16 has a socket 17 in its under face adapted to fitSpecification of Letters Patent- Patented July is, 1922.

1922. Serial No. 561,321.

the head of the screw 13 and accidental "turning thereof.

In order to preventthe loss of energy between the switch body and switchtongue, I provide a flexible bond 18 of high conductivity which has oneend secured to the lug 7 by welding or otherwise as'at 19, and its otherend ;is secured tothe switch body 2 thus prevent as at 20 by weldingorotherwise. The bond 18 is preferably composed of flexible copperstrands laid up spirally, although any suitable material andconstruction may be used. However, the bond should be of sufiicientlength to permit attaching or securing the ends to the lug 7 and to theswitch body before the switch tongue 5 is mounted in position. After thebond 18 is secured to the lug 7 and switch body 2, the bond is passedthrough the aperture in the bottom wall of the recess 4 and forms a coilin the recess 8.

Experience has shown that 80 per cent of energy is saved by providingthe bond 18 between the switch tongue 5 and the switch body 2.

While I have shown and described only one specific embodiment of myinvention,

various modifications will readily suggest themselves to those skilledin the art, and may be made without departing from the scope of myinvention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim 1. A switch comprising a body portion, a movable tongue mountedon said body portion, and means for electrically bonding said tongue tosaid body.

2. A switch comprising a body portion, a movable tongue mounted on saidbody p0rtion, and a metallic bonding member secured to said tongue andto said body portion to form an electrical bond between said tongue andsaid body.

3. A switch comprising a body portion, 7

5. A switch comprising a body portion, a. movable tongue mounted on saidbody por tion, and a flexible metallic bonding member secured to saidtongue and to said body portion, said bonding member having a relativelyhigher conductivity than said switch.

6. The combination with a switch comprising a body portion having atongue bed therein, and a movable tongue mounted in said bed and havinga downwardly projecting lug extending through a suitable aperture in thetongue bed and into a recess below said bed, of a flexible bond securedto said lug and to said switch body, substantially "as described.

7. A switch comprising a body portion having a tongue bed therein, amovable tongue mounted in said bed, means for holdin the tongue in saidbed including a downwardly projecting portion and a flexible bondsecured to said projecting portion and to said switch body.

8. A switch comprising a body portion having a tongue bed therein, amovable tongue mounted in said bed, and having I JOHN T. MOORE.

